XoWizIama
Excellent adaptation.
Voxitype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Dana
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
stevenhope
Entertaining but sometimes uncomfortable to watch. None of the characters are particularly likable - both the husbands are jumped up little bullies, the host is a wannabe social climber, the neighbour is a cold fish and the other woman is simply irritating All in all a though a nice snapshot of 1970 Britain Worth a watch
Martin Dawson
This 'Play for Today' is brilliant, I remember watching them and this one inparticular. If I remember right it would have been a Saturday night. I did not relise the social signifcance of the play until years later when it clicked and I realised it mirrored my loony family! My Mother, Aunties and Grandmother would hold 'do's' like this, and the spoke like it as well, complete and utter 'boredoom'. The discussions would centre on each other kids (My Cousins and me), the latest car in the family, the furniture (usually from 'Habicrap' or G-Plan). One social yard stick was how many bottles of spirit and booze could be collected and stored. The yucky '70's wall paper, ornaments and 'suites', egh, I can see why men, like me son's of women like this, of a certain age got hobbies around this time that stayed with them when they got married. The other subject discussed was jobs and it would end up in a heated discussion of who had the best and most paid. I can see why home computers and the invention of Satellite TV came about, to escape this moronic '70's life. A brilliant film that reminds one how bad it was. Oh, Alison is gorgeous...
julian kennedy
Abigail's Party: 2/10. This is a poorly lit (especially first half) extremely stagy TV show (basically a filmed play.) Highly regarded by some critics but at close to two hours with 5 very unpleasant people it hardly ranks as entertainment. The main character Beverly reminds one of Peg from Married with Children but with no Al to provide the counter pointing laughs she remains strangely unchallenged throughout. In fact the description of Abigail's Party as a comedy is a bit of a puzzler as this is drama writ large. A true character exercise only a stage actor could love. While insightful into the desperation of some of the middle class of England, countless movies and shows have exposed middle class foibles with better results. Even a half hour sitcom like "Keeping Up Appearances" covers the same ground more completely and with many more laughs. Truth be told these people would be miserable no matter what class they were in and like a trapped guest I was looking to leave Abigail's Party as soon as I could.
davidjack
This was the second Mike Leigh film I saw. I was looking for a video to rent to watch during an evenings baby-sitting and I came across 'Abigails Party'.I saw that it was devised and directed by Mike Leigh('Grown Ups ) 1980. As I had really enjoyed that I decided to hire this one.As soon as It started I knew I was going to like it. It was just like 'Grown Ups', very funny in a life like way. They were all a bit strange (except for Sue ) Beverly walked all over her husband and he let her, Angie made her husband look stupid by talking for him all the time, you could see he was irritated but he sat there bottling it all up. They were arguing about the sort of things that are often argued about all the time like what music to play. Sue was the quiet one who appeared to be happy to fit in with what ever they did. This play was cleverly titled,Abigail was never seen. She was across the road having her own Party her Mum ,Sue was over here to keep out the way.Actress Alison Steadman has real talent for forming characters, she has been in many Mike Leigh films and is so different you wouldn't recognize herMy friends arrived home early from their night out and ended up watching it with us and we all enjoyed it.
